8 minute read
Making it New
Do you remember that dance at the River Club after the war (you name the war—there’s always a war) when we locked eyes with each other for the first time? Remember our secret path to the beach through the sea roses? The night we drove all the way back to the cabin to find your hat and caught the moonrise over the lake? Do we love each other even more than that—this second, right now?
In the movies and in real life, lovers travel through hell or high water to find their way back to the exact spots where they first met or fell in love. The phenomenon
Renewing your vows in Maine.
BY COLIN W. SARGENT
Weddings, Vow Renewals, Private Sunset Cruises, We can make it happen! Serving Greater Portland & Casco Bay boatelope.com
207-789-5188 • WindsorChair.com
—Mikaela Lines
is called querencia. That’s why dear places and touchstones shimmer in many a vow renewal. Old postcards, a rope bracelet, the end of a breakwater or favorite pier.
JUST THE TWO OF US
Maine, where so many dreamers migrate every summer to celebrate, is at the heart of many a personal mythology. Maybe an island is just the ticket to help you elope into your past (and future). Or a graceful yacht. If you met on the steamboat Katahdin, consider renewing your vows aboard her as you glide across Moosehead Lake. With luck, the stars will be out when you shoot time’s arrow.
DEAL WITH SEALS
Which is not to say you can’t be nostalgic for places you haven’t been before. One of
All in One Weddings of Maine & Flori-
da’s favorite clients is a couple who renews their vows every year on vacation in a different state. Making this renewal ceremony all about Maine for them was not without its challenges, says officiant Connie Mills. “They were on a bus tour of Portland, so I had to time their ceremony through the bus driver so I’d know exactly what time they’d reach Portland Head Light. All of the other tourists on the bus then became guests for the ceremony there.”
Maine’s hotels and inns specialize in romantic getaways deepened by accidents of beauty. “We had a 45th anniversary vow renewal at the Inn By The Sea in Cape Elizabeth where their twelve-year-old English sheepdog sat right in the middle of the ceremony,” says All in One’s Mikaela Lines, who fit both her own wedding and vow renewal ceremony within the scope of the pandemic. “My husband is in the Navy, and at the beginning of COVID we were about
to move and wanted to get married first, so Connie married us in an elopement ceremony. But my husband’s family couldn’t be there due to COVID, so Connie followed up with a beautiful vow renewal for us this past September when all of our friends and family could come and celebrate with us.”
LOBSTER ISN’T OUR CHIEF EXPORT. IT’S ROMANCE.
In Ogunquit, the Gazebo Inn is ready to help us make new memories for “$399 plus room rate and tax for a Marginal Way ceremony (two night minimum). Add $219 for an optional photo shoot.” As Carson Kressley once told us, “I don’t think [Marginal Way] is marginal at all! That’s a terrible name for it. It’s got such gorgeous views of the ocean. If I had to rename it, I’d rename it ‘Spectacular Way.’”
Will this be your spectacular summer? Who doesn’t love return engagements? If your life is a movie, Maine is the ultimate projection. The thrill is, you’re not running away from someone—you’re running toward them. n
Est. 1899
Inn & Restaurant
Saco,Maine (207)415-2110
“We were driving the coast, so to speak, I think maybe in a station wagon. He fell in love with wherever we went, and now he’d fallen in love with Maine. We talked excitedly in the car. We were looking for a house on the water. We did examine the place! We kept driving north along the water until I don’t really remember the name of the town.
We went quite a ways up, actually, because it was so beautiful. To John, each place was more beautiful than the last." —Interview with Yoko Ono by Colin W. Sargent,
Summerguide 2003.
207-775-0101
We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, Make an ordinary trip, extraordinaryMake an ordinary trip, extraordinary We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate and leisure travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Make an ordinary trip, extraordinary We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987. Make an ordinary trip, extraordinaryMake an ordinary trip, extraordinary We invite you to make an ordinary trip extraordinary, and enjoy affordable luxury travel without the worry. Maine Limousine Service specializes in corporate and leisure travel, airport transfers, weddings and all special occasions. Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987. Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987.Situated just minutes from the Portland International Jetport, Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, Northern New England since 1987. Maine Limousine Service has been providing professional, reliable, luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987. luxury transportation for Northern New England since 1987.Toll Free: 800-646-0068 • Local: 207-883-0222 Online Reservations available at www.mainelimo.com Toll Free Toll Free: 800-646-0068 • Local: 207-883-0222Email inquires to info@mainelimo.com 800.646.0068 | Local 207.883.0222 | Reserve Online www.mainelimo.com Online Reservations available at www.mainelimo.comEmail inquiries info@mainelimo.com | 70 Pleasant Hill Road, Scarborough, Maine Email inquires to info@mainelimo.com
SPECIALIZING IN TENT RENTALS & FLOORING SOLUTIONS
DECOR • CLIMATE CONTROL • EVENT POWER • DESIGN SERVICES • DESTINATION OFFERINGS
Hiding in Maine. With Us.
“Brilliant. If the novel is Macbeth then it is Romeo and Juliet too, for the pounding heart of the book is a great love story that never fails to move. A tale from last century and a warning for this one, Red Hands is a novel of rare power that teaches us much about Romania and even more about ourselves.” –D. D. Johnston
COMING FALL 2022
